2015 Nominees Section

Alex Barajas

Position: Director of Social Work

Organization: Royal Care SNF (Covenant Care)

What role does your nominee have in senior care and senior care issues?
Alex has had his LCSW in Social Work for only 5 years, and he is already the Director of Social Work for Royal Care Skilled Nursing Center in Long Beach.

Why should this person be nominated
Alex was obviously meant to be a social worker, because his heart is evident in all he does.
One example of Alex’s commitment to giving more than expected involves a family that was estranged for many years. The woman that Alex was concerned about had been in his facility for about 7 years. In all that time, there was only one daughter that came to visit and it made the resident very sad to not have all her family around her. Eventually, Alex noticed that even the daughter wasn’t coming to visit and was concerned about his resident. He came to find out the daughter had become ill and wasn’t able to come anymore, but there had been a long-standing issue between her and the rest of the family, and she was actually the one that kept the others away.

Through much time and understanding, and long before and after-hour meetings with the family, Alex was able to bring them all together again. The joy that this brought to his resident was beyond measure. But Alex didn’t stop there. Even though it meant reducing his own census, and because it was in the resident’s best interest, Alex then found placement for her nearer to her other family members who were now more able to visit her.
Alex made such a difference in so many lives because of the time he spent going above and beyond his job description!